1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to methods for producing video presentations on demand, and more particularly to a method for making video programs available quickly and economically over a large geographic area.
2. Description of Prior Art
A primary objective in the real estate sales industry is to place high quality and appropriate real estate property information in the hands of buyers, quickly, inexpensively and locally. The so-called Multiple Listing Service (MLS) has been in use in the real estate sales industry for a number of years. The MLS publishes a printed magazine containing written descriptions and still photographs of real estate properties that are available for sale. The MLS also provides an on-line video presentation service the enables buyers to view still photographs of properties and to access details of these properties in written form on a video monitor. When a buyer appears in the marketplace he/she has the opportunity to consult the MLS as a preliminary step in making a match between the buyer's needs and those properties that are currently available for sale. The MLS system, although a great improvement over its predecessor systems has many faults and problems. Although the MLS fulfills the need for providing information relatively quickly, inexpensively and locally, it does not provide appropriate and high quality information. The buyer still must travel to the site of prospective properties in order to obtain an understating of the most important architectural factors accounting for most purchase decisions.
In the prior art describing high data rate distributive information systems, although nothing seems to exist in either common practice or in the literature relative to the real estate industry, the following references are of interest:
Ballantyne et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,079, shows a new and useful method and apparatus for distribution of movies for viewing on a customer's television set. Digitized compressed signals containing audio and visual components of the movie selected by the customer are sent to the customer's receiver. The digital signals are converted to corresponding electronic signals; which are decompressed and converted to audio and video signals. These converted signals are passed to a conventional television set for viewing by the customer.
Litteral et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,347, shows a public switched telephone network (PSTN) which provides a digital video signals from a video information provider to one or more of a plurality of subscriber premises. A subscriber uses either a standard telephone instrument over the PSTN or a dedicated control device over an ISDN packet network to order video programming. The request is transmitted to a designated video information provider and digital transmission connectivity is established between the video information provider and the central office serving the subscriber. Connectivity between the central office and subscriber is provided by asymmetrical digital subscriber line interface units over a local loop. The interface units frequency multiplex digital video information with voice information to the subscriber and support transmission of a reverse control channel form the subscriber to the central office for transmission on the ISDN packet data network back the video information provider. The interfaces also allow base band signaling and audio between the central office and the subscriber for conventional telephone instrument connectivity.
Gelman et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,532, shows a store-and-forward architecture which stores and distributes information programs to subscribers on demand including: information warehouses which archive information programs from multiple service vendors and dispense information programs in segments to central offices in high speed bursts; central offices which manages subscriber's request for service and buffers segments of information programs for delivery to subscribers in real-time under the subscriber's interactive control; and customer premises equipment where a subscriber's requests and control signals for interactive play-out of information program are generated and information programs are received for the subscriber's use.
De Bey, U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,031, shows a system and method of optimizing transmission of a program to multiple users over a distribution system, with particular application to video-on-demand for a CATV network. The system includes, at a head end of the CATV network a scheduling and routing computer for dividing the video program stored in long term fast storage or short term fast storage into a plurality of program segments, and a subscriber distribution node for transmitting the program segments in a redundant sequence in accordance with a scheduling algorithm. At a receiver of the CATV network there is provided a buffer memory for storing the transmitted video program segments for subsequent playback whereby, in use, the scheduling algorithm can ensure that a user's receiver will receive al of the programs segments in a manner that will enable continuous playback in real time of the program. Under the control of controller the receiver distinguishes received program segments by a segment identifier so that redundant segments captured in capture memory are then stored in buffer memory from which the segments can be retrieved and decompressed in data compressor for immediate or subsequent viewing.
Walters et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,334, shows an apparatus and method for broadcast burst transmission of compressed audio/video programs from a stored library to a multiplicity of subscribers. The stored programs are burst transmitted repeatedly in a predetermined sequence of entire programs or segments thereof to a receiver at each subscriber's location. Each receiver is operative for accessing the predetermined broadcast schedule, inputting a subscriber's order for one or more programs, monitoring the broadcast burst transmissions for the one or more ordered programs, receiving the one or more ordered programs in a burst time period corresponding to the time period of the burst transmission, and storing the one or more ordered programs. The subscriber then enjoys full VCR-like control over playback at his convenience of the ordered, stored programs, that are then decompressed by the receiver for viewing in real time.
Hooper et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,390, shows in a system for interactively viewing videos, a selected video is transmitted as a plurality of frames of digitized video data for playback on a viewing device. The system received the transmitted video data and includes a memory buffer for storing a segment of a selected one of the videos. The segment includes a predetermined number of frames representing a predetermined time interval of the selected video. In addition, the memory buffer including a write pointer and a read pointer. Software controlled servers are provided for writing and reading video data of the selected video to and from the memory buffer, independently, at locations indicated by the write and read pointers to transfer the selected video to the viewing device. By using a remote controller the viewer can position the read and write pointers to view any portion of the selected video interactively.
Beriont, U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,202, shows a network interface module operably connected to a subscriber's television receiver and to a switched broadband digital network includes a fiber-compatible digital transceiver. A downlink receiver in the transceiver detects video/audio/data information that is time-multiplexed within a serially transmitted digital signal optically transmitted by the switched digital network as a broadband digital downlink channel. The detected information is decoded into a parallel format of video/data samples, audio samples, and recovered sample clock that are applied to a digital switch in the television receiver.